This is a zine dedicated to death/thrash, technical and traditional death metal for more info contact hatredmeanswar@yahoo.com looking for new authors do to lack of time to cover everything email me at the email listed above if you want to do reviews and interviews for the blog.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

We are currently gathering ideas to start writing a new album. We are also looking for a way to play a short tour or a couple fests.

2.How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it differs from previous releases?

'The Next' is much catchier than previous releases. On the previous albums, I would put too much attention on how the songs would look like on paper and how it would work conceptually, but on this new one I focused 100% on what it sounded like. The guitars are much more detailed but also catchier and rhythmic. There is a bit less attention on technicality and more on musicality, if that makes sense. It's much more old school tech death, in the vein of None So Vile-era Cryptopsy or even Gorguts, but keeping the things that fans have mentioned as their favorite Serocs parts (melodic tremolo riffs, barely any use of power chords and all-out insane fast parts). Having a full band also changed the sound a lot. Before, I would write all instruments and lyrics, which drained me and took a lot of effort. That way, the songs would all sound like me and would get a bit too similar in each other. Now, the guys wrote their own parts, which helped me focus on guitars exclusively, and it really shows, because there are a lot more details and styles incorporated. For example, Timo used a symmetric drum kit, which created a nice panned effect when he is doing cymbal play. There are some ride sections that are very original when he is using both rides. Mike, on bass, created lines that are all different from the guitars and usually don't even repeat themselves throughout a riff. He is doing a sort of bass-as-the-lead concept he came up with that keeps things interesting. I also tried to create "part 2" versions of old songs that were very well received back then, for example The Constant is part 2 of The Variable and Alienus Gignesthai is part 2 of Great Hymn To The Aten.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

The lyrics on 'The Next' have a general concept behind them, which is "we think of us, modern humans, as the next step in evolution, but we are actually de-evolving". I took some of the usual concepts I've been using throughout our albums, like social unrest, political themes, psychological disorders and a bit of mythology and created a couple of titles (The Next, Urban Terror, ChernoVile) and sent to Jason for him to write the lyrics. Alienus Gignesthai was a title that our previous singer Josh Smith came up with too. Jason took care of the lyrics in record time, as he joined pretty late into the recording process, and created the concepts for the other songs. They all deal with the album's concept in some way. The opener (and title track) talks about the concept itself explicitly and others, for example Weakness Fed The Fear (religion), talk about this concept in specific areas of our society, ending with Alienus Gignesthai, which is a straight-up sci-fi/mythology concept where we are being punished for these behaviors.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

The name has a pretty random story. As a kid, my e-mail would be "xerox" and I would use that as a name on video-games (for example the old Starcraft or Counterstrike 1.3). When I started joining local bands, people would call me "xerox", but they would write it as "serocs". When I decided to start my own band, I chose that name because it was already well known in the local scene, so I tried to separate it from myself and make it the band's name, not mine. Eventually, it proved to be weird enough to sound interesting but easy to say and unique (IMO).

5.The band started out as a solo project, what was the decision behind forming a full line up?

It was always my idea to make it a full band. I was in some local bands that weren't exactly the type of sound I wanted to make, so I started to look for local musicians that could play this type of music (or even liked it), but it wasn't popular at all back then in this country and not many people could play it (specially drummers). Because of this, I changed my plan to making my own music at home and getting good enough that I could attract foreign talent and finally make the band I wanted. When I released the second EP, Timo contacted me because he wanted to join and I knew I had finally reached my first goal with Serocs. I had already started making the first full length back then with vocalist Josh Smith, so we decided Timo would join for the second LP. He then brought Mike in and Mike got Jason to join.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

We have never played a show as Serocs. Timo and Mike both play in Vile (and other big bands) and Jason used to sing on Lecherous Nocturne (and other bands too), so they have plenty of touring experience. I also have a lot of experience, but only inside my country, as my local bands never really took off. We are currently working on getting a short tour or some fests, because we believe our music would be really powerful live, so expect to see us soon.

7.What are the touring plans for the new release?

No definite plans so far. It's hard to tour when each member is in a different country, but we'll make it happen. (Or if any promoter or band is reading this, help us out! lol)

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?

Feedback has been really good, for 'The Next' specially. We have fans from all over the world, which is something I didn't think would happen so soon. The internet is a wonderful thing and it has kept this band going (both because of fans and band members). Sometimes, I find Russian or Japanese forums talking about us and I just google-translate them and read their feedback. I like listening to what fans say and definitely shape the music to their feedback in some way. Us musicians are fans of other bands too and I know how important it is, as a listener, to feel that the band cares about sending their own message and music but also listens to your feedback, so I try to do the same. I also try and give free stuff (at least digitally) to the fans that help us promote, share our posts, etc. Some big bands have helped us spread the word no the sole fact that they liked the music, so that's really awesome.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?The closing track Alienus Gignesthai is a good indication of where we are going. We are definitely going to keep the core Serocs sound but our future release will incorporate some more slow sections, more of a "doom-ish" evil atmosphere and try to get even more creative. We are current bouncing ideas and concepts off each other and I can tell you Mike and Timo have some crazy stuff planned.

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Cryptopsy is always my main thing. I always listen to them and will never stop, so my playing and writing always has a little bit of them. Same thing, to some degree, with Defeated Sanity and Nile. Those bands never leave my playlists. Nowadays I've also been listening to Wormed, old Decapitated and Gorguts (their new album is fucking awesome!), mainly because of people comparing our music to theirs, which makes me feel really flattered. 'Alienus' has gotten a lot of Gorguts comparisons even though I wasn't an active Gorguts listener when I wrote it (I am now though). Abhorrent is also a big inspiration and, even though they only have demos at the moment, I look up to them. Hopefully we'll get their full-length soon. The new stuff will also be inspired by Ulcerate, Sleep (mainly Dopesmoker) and Zealotry, which all have slower and more elaborate sections (well, maybe not Dopesmoker). These bands create great ambiance and I look forward to adding some of that evil environment to new Serocs material. Plus, Mike and Timo both listen to other bands so new Serocs will be much more varied.

11.Outside of music, what are some of your interests?

I love movies and TV. You can hear a lot of that on older Serocs (samples and song titles). My favorite thing is LOST and you can find a reference to that on every one of our albums. I also like screenwriting, which I'm currently working on, and aspire to sell some scripts soon. Besides that; eating. Oh man, food is the best. I don't really play any modern video-games, but I love playing this Quake 3 mod called "Urban Terror" (yeah, like the song). Really fun and challenging.

12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

We are really thankful for the great feedback we've been getting and hope to meet some of our fans on live shows soon! www.comatosemusic.com

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Serocs are a band from Mexico that plays a very heavy, brutal and technical form of death metal and this is a review of their 2013 album "The Next" which was released by Comatose Music.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with a great amount of brutal sounding blast beats being thrown into the music, while the bass playing has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that are coming out of the guitars and at times they have a very powerful sound to them.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast death metal riffs that are very heavy, brutal and technical sounding along with a brief use of clean playing, while the lead guitars are very old school and technical sounding death metal guitar solos and leads.

Vocals are mostly deep death metal growls along with a brief use of high pitched screams, while the lyrics cover darkness and violent themes, as for the production it has a very strong, powerful, heavy, brutal and professional sound to it.

In my opinion Serocs are a very great sounding heavy and brutal technical death metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "The Next" "Weakness Fed The Fear" and "ChernoVille". RECOMMENDED BUY.

1.Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those who never heard of you before?

We are DEHUMAN REIGN – a death metal band from Berlin, Germany. The band was formed in 2011 after the split of HARMONY DIES, where Ulf [guitar] and Totte [drums] have been making music together for more than 10 years. Shortly after the split we found a second guitar player in Tesk and then Rouven who plays the bass. Finally in March 2012 we found our vocalist (Alex).

With the line-up complete we recorded our debut-EP during the following summer. The recording and mixing were done by Tobi Engl (ESSENZ, ANDROID EMPIRE, DROWNED) at the Englsound studio. We uploaded a rough mix of one of the tracks to our Bandcamp page in late 2012 and got positive feedback on it. There were two labels that showed interest in our stuff and so it comes that we signed a deal with F.D.A. Rekotz in early 2013. Our debut called “DESTRUCTIVE INTENT” will be released on 26th July 2013, the vinyl release will follow later.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

It’s always hard to describe your own music, we just write stuff that comes out of our strange brains, perhaps influenced by bands of the early 90s, but not on an intentional level. Our approach is to create a pure and authentic sound without modern influences and an evil/dark atmosphere. Most listeners classify us as classic 90’s US death metal. The best way is to find out for yourself by listening to our music!

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

The lyrics in our songs are of a dark, philosophical nature and allow a wide range of possible interpretations. Our aim is to cover more than the usual gore/splatter themes or all the exaggerated satanic stuff, but still being evil.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the band’s name?

It’s really hard to find a band name these days. Every time someone came up with a good sounding band name, we always discovered that it already existed. Finally we had a list of potential names in 8pt font size that filled a whole page! One day Totteproposed “DEHUMAN REIGN”. That was something we all could agree upon and thought it represents the evil mood of our music very well.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

We have played several club gigs in Germany, which all felt pretty good. However, the best so far was our show at the “Grind the Nazi Scum” festival in Torgau, Germany. There was a mixed audience of metalheads, grind and crust-core fans. It was a really nice experience to see all these people enjoy our performance!

6. Do you have any touring plans for the future?

We have been booked for some single shows for the remaining year (check the web for more information). A tour is not planned at this moment. Since we don’t like the “pay-to-play” concept that’s becoming more and more usual, we prefer to play concerts for the real underground scene for now. We’ll see what the future holds for us.

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?

We got excellent feedback and praise on the rough-mix-track we published through our bandcamp-page, mostly from Germany, but also from the USA, Spain, Netherlands, Indonesia, Russia and Greece. We are looking forward to get some more feedback after the release of our debut!

8. Are there any other musical projects besides this band?

Yes, most of us are active in additional projects/bands;

Uffe plays guitar in NECROMORPH (Grind/Crust/Death), Tesk plays guitar in YSPOTOPSY (Djeazz-metal), Rouven plays bass in a rock band and Totte is playing drums in a harsh black metal project.

9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

The major direction is pretty clear – DEATH METAL!

We have already some new songs in our live-set, which have been written by the whole band, even Alex [vocals]threw in some killer riffs.

We will continue to sound like DEHUMAN REIGN, just like we said before, we write music that we like and come up with cool riffs and make them into good songs. Come to our live shows to listen and experience the new stuff!

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

There is no specific band we could name here. We are just a bunch of guys with the same musical roots, thrash from the 80s, black & death metal from the 90s and grind-/crust-core. Apart from that every band member has his own odd preferences and favourites from all styles of music you can imagine, but that’s too much to mention. We can honestly say from Abba to Zappa.

11. Does occultism play any role in your music?

We are all atheists, but nevertheless we are fascinated by dark, demonic atmospheres. We believe that there is a kind of spirituality in every human being and that it can be triggered by music, sounds and words. So basically what we are hoping to achieve is to create a morbid, disturbing sound without applying a specific religious context.

12. Outside of music, what are some of your interests?

We are quite different personalities when it comes to interests apart from music, but we all can agree upon drinking all kinds of beer, driving with fast cars on the world famous german Autobahn and playing golf … haha, not really …

13. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thanks for the interview and thanks to the patient readers for reading this far.

Please check out our music and if you like it buy it, if not... then still buy it! :)

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Perversion are a band from the United Arab Emirates that plays a mixture of brutal death metal and thrash and this is a review of their 2013 album "Pillars Of The Enlightened" which was released by Blast Head Records.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with a great amount of brutal sounding blast beats being thrown into the music, while the bass playing has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that are coming out of the guitars.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast death metal riffs that are very heavy and brutal sounding with some thrash influences being thrown into the riffing at times, while the lead guitars are very dark and melodic sounding death metal guitar solos and leads.

Vocals are all deep death metal growls, while the lyrics cover darkness, violent, hateful and gore themes, as for the production it has a very strong, powerful, heavy, brutal and professional sound to it.

In my opinion Perversion are a very great sounding hybrid of brutal death metal and thrash and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this band. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Aging The Unbirthed" "Subconscious Mutation" and "Ones Of The Beyond". RECOMMENDED BUY.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Q1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

A1. Our band was formed in June, 2009 by by the members of different local bands. We’d all been the perticipants of various local formations for that moment but we wanted to try something new. As a result, we decided to express ourselves through implementation of Technical Progressive Death Metal act. Then we saw that it was good and agreed to continue together :)

Q2. How would you describe your musical sound?

A2. Just metal :) That’ll be a hyperbole if I say our sound is unique but sometimes i think that’s sick enough: we’ve mixed Technical Progressive Death Metal with some elements of Classical Heavy, some notes of fusion etc. We don’t cause ouselves intentionally, just make what we want, free and easy.

Q3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

A3. Lyrics are chain of stories about civilization that went a wrong path of consumption, stupidity and greed and as a result harvested all the consequences one may imagine: wars, horrible epidemics, starvation, voilence outbreaks and so on. Those stories are innuendo for all of us as we see the same tendentions nowadays.

Q4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

A4. The name of our band (Aruna Azure in the very beginning by the way) was a figment of our guitar player, Max War-M. The main idea was about distant human-like beings living in another galaxy. They destroyed themselves one day, and humanity is repeating their path nowadays. My function was just to make a coherent chain of happenings and classify them in short stories that became a base for lyrics.

Q5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

A5. Really best shows are ahead, I’m sure. Our stage performance is a dialog with audience and detached immersion into alloy of melodies and some visual affirmations. We always do our best to let people know that thay see a really good band which may tell them a lot. Certainly, we let all the energy, all the fury and sadness explode during the show. Maybe there’s no magic behind our tunes at all but nobody stays indifferent as well.

Q6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

A6. We’ve got some plans to show our album alive around September or maybe October 2013. But details will be clear a bit later.

Q7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of extreme metal?

A7. There’ll always be three basic options for evaluation: “Positive”, “Negative” and “Neutral”. Fortunately or not but I may say that Aruna Azura is warmly accepted by audience principally. There are some parallels and comparsions of course but that’s a necessary evil for rather young band like ours.

Q8. Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?

A8. There are other musical projects where we participate (eg. The Unhallowed and Deva Obida) which are all-sufficient and full-featured bands. Nevertheless, there’s nothing to lose for Aruna Azura in time or line up aspects. So, our band is fully armed along with that.

Q9. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

A9. Our future direction and style may become a surprise for ourselves. We’ve never tried to adhere to rules of making music according to some canons, just do what we like. By the way, we’ve started a preproduction recording process for our next release not so long ago. In my opinion that’s something different from our debut album.

Q10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

A10. Well, there’s a really great range of names and styles that i’m listening to nowadays so i can itemize them across several pages :) But I guess I may specialize some of them: Black Sabbath (kinda trend, yep? :), Megadeth, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, Motley Crue, Paradise Lost etc. made our course one day. Nowadays we prefer to listen to different styles, not only metal at all. There are so many talanted musicians regardless of what they play, from flamenko up to grindcore, from lounge up to the most dark waves of powernoise, IDM, drum’n’bass and industrial. I just may say one thing: almost every day I find something new, something special and I’m really pleased that music goes on and never stops it’s evolution.

Q11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

A11. Frankly speaking, music is not the only one in our lives. We’ve all got regular jobs and other interests of course, such as winter sports: our region lets us enjoy skiing and snowboarding for almost 5 months a year. We’re not sedentary beings. Especially our drummer, Alex T.Age, he’s a real travelling fan. Also I’m in process of writing a novel and who knows maybe one day that stuff will say hello to a world.

Q12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

A12. I’d like to say to everyone reading this message: just be fair with yourselves, remember who you are. Realize every moment of your life is special and remeber: we aint got 1000 years to live so some mistakes may be irrevesible. Love music like it loves you. Stay tuned!

Saturday, July 6, 2013

1.Can you tell us a little bit about the band for Those That have never heard of you before?

Hi! We're Armaroth from Kranj, Slovenia and we have recently released our first record, False Vision EP. False Vision is a 20 minute record That introduces you to our view on how things are. With this EP, we're making our way into the death metal scene in Europe and Abroad. Our story which began almost five years ago, but the members and the image of the band has changed a lot since the Beginning. Our perception of art and our composing skills have changed dramatically through These Years Now we are working on our performance and new brutal material.

2.How Would you describe your musical sound?

Raw, straight-forward and brutal. It reflects us and reality. A bit like toxic green if you like to think in colors.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

We're talking about the wrong direction That modern man is headed to. The terrifying part about it is That the majority is not aware of the situation, but the situation is too serious to be silent about it and do nothing. The lyrics address general issues usuall, but we always think about specific events That define our wicked society. We think about Palestine, Which is in great suffering Because of the greedy imperialist politics of you know who.We think about Victims of corruption all over the world and we stand by Those That stand up and resist. Like Turkey and Brazil at the moment. In other words, we write about stupidity and blindness of the worldwide population.

4.What is the Meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?Just some juvenile bullshit, That we came up with years ago. And it sounds cool to us.

5.What are some of the best shows That the band has played so far and how Would you describe your stage performance?

The best stages and shows are yet to come for us. So far, we have played only domestic clubs and festivals, but we have Higher Ambitions for the future. The best gigs happened in Kranj, our home city, where the fans are totally nuts and we love them. Some other remote towns where the local scenes are small, but very connected and supportive.

6th Do you have any touring show or plans for the future?

Absolutely. Nothing in Particular is Planned out yet, but stay tuned! We will prepare some theatrical madness to get Armaroth shows that even Higher Level.

7.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or received any interest?

Armaroth is a team of independent artists, and That is what we want to be in the future.Labels are just another useless partner, That cloud your relationship with fans and media.You have to be creative on demand, and then They Want Their share for that. As far as we Will Be Able to keep everything under control, we will dictate future for ourselves. We have nothing against a fair deal thou (haha dildo) Because there's a bunch of work That Could labels do for us.

8th On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of death metal?

It's been great! It has just been one month since the release, so feedback is only starting to develop, but so far we got nothing but positive feedback. There were some great reviews written, and the interest started to develop. The reception was good Also in Slovenia.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

When False Vision was done and we Listened to it, it was natural to us, That that's the basic sound That we want to work on. Future is only going to be better and we will hopefully deliver something fresh into (death) metal. We're inspired by many different styles of music and art outside of metal, so the next releases will include some fresh experimenting with the sound.

10th What are some bands or musical styles That Have Influenced Your Music And also what are you listening to nowadays?

Every member has some personal preferences, but we all Grew up with the classic artists of death metal, Especially from Florida, Netherlands, Sweden, New York etc. We watch movies, read books, go see Wicked performances and smoke weed to relax and find inspiration.

11.Outside of music what are some of your Interests?

Partying and good mosh on a quality concert. Chilling, jamming, drinking beer. All the usual stuff That keeps you going on this fucked up planet.

12.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?

Thanks for support, spread the word about Armaroth, stay tuned and people medicate, medicate.

Friday, July 5, 2013

1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?

Yeah we just released our debut album, Unearthly Monument, through Hellthrasher Productions and we are going to play as many shows as possible during the summer and the rest of the year to promote it. We are already working on new songs as well. So there is alot going on right now.

2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it differs from previous recordings?

I think Unearthly Monument sounds very raw and honest, it almost sounds like a live recording at times. I always thought our songs sounded more brutal and had more energy to them when we played live than they ever did on our previous demo recordings and we have finally managed to capture that power and aggression with these new recordings. This has the advantage that when you see us live we will sound very much like we do on the album, I always hated bands that sounded awesome on an album and then sounded totally different live.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release explores?

Most of the songs deal with classic death metal topics such as war, death, violence, zombies, satanism and some H.P Lovecraft Cthulhu mythology on top of that. You could say that it is cliché stuff but death metal cannot have lyrics about love or happiness, it needs to have lyrics that are both as sinister and powerful as the music is.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?

The word desolator derives from the words desolation and desolated. Desolation means a complete state of emptiness or destruction and desolated is when something has been layed to waste or been destroyed. Hence desolator would be that which causes the destruction, which lays to waste. I came up with that name early on for the band because it sounded brutal and very death metal and the others agreed on it. One could also see it as a cool metaphor for what our music sounds like.

5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

That is a though question since we had many great shows the last year. But I have to mention the latest show we did on the 28th of June together with our friends in the bands Obscyria, Phidion and Corrosive Carcass in connection with the album release. The audience smeared themselves with blood and lots of people came up on stage and it was just crazy, a perfect death metal show!

6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

No touring plans so far but we have many shows booked for the rest of the year. The biggest one I would say is the first show abroad at the Matanza Festival in Palma de Mallorca, Spain in August. There Desolator will be playing alongside great bands such as Insision and Tormention. But we always want to play more shows at new places so if any promotor reads this then contact us!

7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the new album by fans of old school death metal?

The feedback have been good so far from reviwers, friends and fans alike. Of course I love the album just for the simple fact that it is our first real album but I am confident that we have created exactly what we aimed to do, a solid and brutal death metal album, notihing more and nothing less.

8. What is going on with the other musical projects these days?

Well we just finished recording what is going to be Ending Quest's debut album and we will start mixing that in the near future so hopefully we will have that out before the end of the year and Stefan is constantly writing more material for Soliloquium so I am pretty sure there is a new release in the making for that project as well.

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

I read in a review of Unearthly Monument that the reviewer didn't think we had developed that much from previous releases. What many people might not understand is that this album has been two years in the making and all these songs were finished back in 2011. We have also re-recorded many songs that are several years old from back when we first started the band. Within that time we have never stopped writing new material and we already have a couple of new songs ready and we are constantly working on new stuff. I think many will be surprised the next time we release something as we have in my opinion made a big step towards finding a sound of our own.

10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

We are moving in a new direction that is more technical and perhaps a little more modern in the sense that we have left most of the thrash metal influences behind us and are even more brutal. Immolation have been a big inspiration but there will always be that inflence from the classic death metal acts such as Death, Autopsy, Morbid Angel, Bolt Thrower, Vader and Asphyx. We want to find a sound of our own but it is not like we will change genre or anything, Desolator will always play brutal and powerful death metal.

11.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

I have two passions in my life, metal and martial arts. I have been training Karate for 16 years and I am a 3rd Dan black belt and a teacher at a karate dojo in my hometown so that takes up almost as much of my time as the music does. What time I have left I want to spend with my family.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Aruna Azara are a band from Russia that plays a very progressive and technical form of death metal and this is a review of their 2013 album "A Story Of A Worlds Betrayal" which was released by Metal Scrap Records.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with some blast beats being utilized at times, while the bass playing has a very strong and powerful sound with heavy riffing that dominates throughout the recording.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast riffs that combine progressive and technical death metal together to create a sound of their own with some thrash, jazz and funk influences along with some melody being thrown into the riffing, while lead guitars are very technical sounding death metal guitar solos and leads, as for the acoustic guitars when they are utilized use finger picking to add some progressive sounding elements to t he album.

Vocals range from deep death metal growls, high pitched screams, clean singing, whispers and some spoken word parts, while the lyrics cover philosophical themes, as for t he production it has a very strong, powerful, heavy and professional sound where you can hear all of the musical instruments that are present on this recording with some of the songs being long and epic in length.

In my opinion Azura Azara are a very great sounding progressive and technical death metal band and if you are a fan of t his musical genre, you should check out this recording. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Rites" "Substance" and "Azure Sun". RECOMMENDED BUY.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Desolator are a band from Sweden that plays a very old school form of Swedish style death metal and this is a review of their 2013 album "Unearthly Movement" which was released by Hellthrasher Productions.

Drums range from slow, mid paced to fast drumming with a good amount of blast beats being thrown into the music, while the bass playing has a very dark tone with riffs that follow the riffing that are coming out of the guitars and at times they have a very powerful sound to them, as for the synths they are only used on the last song and they bring a very dark and evil sound to the album.

Rhythm guitars range from slow, mid paced to fast Swedish style death metal riffs that are very heavy and old school sounding as well as a brief use of soft and clean playing, while the lead guitars are very melodic and old school sounding death metal guitar solos and leads.

Vocals range from deep death metal growls to high pitched screams, while the lyrics cover violence, death and anti religion themes, as for the production it has a very strong, powerful, heavy and old school sound to it.

In my opinion Desolator are a very great sounding old school Swedish style death metal band and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Thy Flesh Consumed" "Mass Human Pyre" "Second Killing Of Christ" and "Antimortem Autopsy". RECOMMENDED BUY.